That Was Far Too Convenient
by jactehsniper
Summary: When things seem a little too convenient for Arthur's liking he tries to get to the bottom of it... if only Merlin wasn't so infuriating! A small example of how Arthur has managed to stay so blind for so long.


Woohoo! Another pointless fic that I wrote with no sleep and too much sugar!

This is pretty much just fluff. But I thought it'd be nice to see things from Arthur's view when those oddly coincidental happenstances occur. XD Hopefully it doesn't feel too out of place.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Fan fiction is self-explanatory, you fool. =_= But should that not be obvious, no, I don't own Merlin... except a few dvds... dvds that are going to be wornout very, very quickly. *coughs* Anyway...

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**That Was Far Too Convenient**

It wasn't the first time coincidence had been far too convenient and Arthur was sure it wouldn't be the last. And, if truth be told, it was starting to annoy him. Take just now for example; the soldiers that had been chasing them had just plummeted to their deaths whilst crossing a bridge that had inexplicably fallen to bits. Handy, but most definitely odd. He was positive the likelihood of the ropes being rotten was unlikely –the bridge was only a year or two old and couldn't have possibly decayed that much. But no one else seemed to think the bridge falling was just a little bit… peculiar.

Gwaine had just grinned, flicking his hair back out of his face, saying cheerfully, "Well, fancy that!" Lancelot merely nodded in agreement, a small smile playing on his features as he glanced at Merlin.

"Yes, 'fancy that' indeed," Arthur said a bit sarcastically, feeling miffed that no one else found it strange.

"Now, Arthur," Merlin spoke up sounding rather cheeky, "no one's going to question your manliness because you didn't get to fight a few stray soldiers."

"Shut up, Merlin," Arthur snapped, ignoring Gwaine's amused snort. He gave his manservant a warning glance before sheathing his sword and peering down the rocky cliff side at the wreckage below. "No one finds it a little strange?"

"Find what strange?" Merlin asked, joining him. Arthur rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to clop him over the head. He would have done it too… if it hadn't been likely to send the man down to join the unlucky soldiers below. Couldn't go around putting himself out of a servant, now, could he?

"That a perfectly good bridge gave out for no reason," he snapped irritably.

Gwaine shrugged, "not so much, really. Ropes rot. It's what they do."

Arthur frowned over his shoulder at the two knights. Gwaine was already turning away towards the path but Lancelot was frowning slightly and giving Merlin a pointed look. Merlin returned the gaze with a hard glare and the two of them seemed to be having a stare down. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, the prince looked from his knight to his servant and back again, trying to decipher the silent argument they appeared to be having. And not having much luck, to his utter disgust.

"Oh, for the love of-!" Arthur growled exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in the air and shaking his head. "Will the two of you stop that and tell me what the hell is going on?"

"The bridge fell down," Merlin answered quickly, giving Lancelot one last warning glare before turning to Arthur. "I thought that was obvious…"

Arthur sighed. He had not the words to describe the irritation he held for his servant at that moment. Sometimes he just wanted to clobber the skinny bean pole!

"Alright, I can see that," he said, struggling to keep his sarcasm in check, "there's just one problem." Both Merlin and Lancelot gave him a quizzical look and he gestured wildly at the now bridgeless gap. "That bridge wasn't nearly old enough for the ropes to have been _that_ rotten!"

His servant glanced down, then looked thoughtful, then turned to face him again, his head tilted to the side in a thoughtful manner. "Maybe," he said brightly after coming to some conclusion, "they were over the weight limit."

"There were only four of them!" Arthur exclaimed, finding the idea preposterous. "They can't have been that heavy. It's supposed to hold horses, for crying out loud!"

"Well, they were rather large," Merlin replied wryly, "I bet that's what did it."

"Oh, yes, Merlin," Arthur's voice was practically oozing sarcasm, ""I'm sure that's it!"

"You know" Merlin grinned, ignoring the Prince's sarcasm, "that could have been you."

Lancelot quickly turned around and followed Gwaine up the path, not caring to get mixed up in it. One look at the expression on Arthur's face was more than enough to tell him he didn't want anything to do with the 'conversation'. And hearing the next words to come from Arthur's mouth only confirmed it. He hurried away as quick as he could, hoping Gwaine hadn't gotten too far ahead of them.

"_Merlin,_ are you saying I'm fat?" Arthur asked incredulously. "_Again_?" He couldn't believe the man would dare to tell him that twice!

"Well..." Merlin hesitated, giving Arthur an appraising gaze from head to toe.

That was it! Arthur snapped and bellowed at Merlin as loud as he could, hoping that maybe the added volume would get it through the servant's thick head.

"_I AM NOT FAT!"_

It was so loud it sent echoes flying off the cliffs and further up the path caused Gwaine to let out a roaring bark of laughter that they could all hear.

"If you say so," Merlin said offhandedly, fighting back an amused laugh. He bent to pick up his bag and get ready to move on.

"I do say so!" Arthur said indignantly.

"Well then," Merlin replied cheerfully, "you've nothing to worry about if you eat some more sausages."

"Of course I don't," Arthur snapped.

"Except Gwen's opinion."

Arthur stopped, stared, and then very nearly hit Merlin over the head. He would have succeeded too if Merlin hadn't seen it coming and ducked away, grinning as cheekily as humanly possible. He glared after the escaping man as he dashed off up the path that Lancelot and Gwaine had taken. Muttering indignantly, he quickly brushed off the sudden fear of what Guinevere thought about his appearance and threw the fallen bridge one last fervent glance.

It was just one more of the strange and oddly convenient coincidences that followed him around. But he'd be damned if he was going to forget about it! There was definitely something amiss. If only he could figure out what… Blast that Merlin! Always distracting him from the matter at hand! He should make him muck out the stables when they got back to Camelot, just for calling him fat.

He was _not_ fat.

And with that thought firmly rooted in his mind, Arthur followed his men along the path, leaving the bridge behind, but not before filing it away in his memory as one of the oddly lucky things that always happen when he was out with Merlin. He had nagging feeling that he was going to have to find some time to sit and consider the growing list at some point, especially since it wasn't like it was the first time coincidence had been far too convenient, and Arthur was sure it wouldn't be the last. He had to be on top of these things. What if it was magic?

…Now that was just absurd. Merlin and magic. Ha!


End file.
